Butterfly Cry Portrait of a Mexican Heroine Painting by John McDonald

Painting: Acrylic on Canvas, Wood.

Butterfly Cry

A PORTRAIT OF A MEXICAN HEROINE BY JOHN MCDONALD

Butterfly Cry is the first of the Mexican Heroine series by John McDonald, a body of work exploring human themes of love and loss, suffering and strength, passion for life, and the power of creativity to convert pain into beauty.

Butterfly Cry depicts a creative and imagined portrait of the Mexican Heroine researched through
a variety of historical photographs. She is depicted in red, yellow and black Tehuana costume,
with silver earring, red plaited headscarf and red floral headdress on a turquoise and soft green ground.

This unique and moving portrait uses the South American symbolism of grief transformed into butterflies: the Mexican Heroine's tears are represented as colourful butterflies, one for each year of her life. Forty-six butterflies may be easily counted and the forty-seventh is hidden somewhere else in the portrait.

The pathos, vibrancy, and universal appeal of Butterfly Cry, makes this the leading portrait in John McDonald's Mexican Heroine series. The artist has a very literal empathy with his Mexican Heroine, through loss and bereavement from self, but most of all in a passion for life that can change tears into butterflies, overcome disability and pain, and that celebrates the indomitable strength of the human spirit.

BUTTERFLY CRY
BROKEN… BROKE
BEAUTIFUL BURDEN
CRY… GOODBYE
LIE, LAY, LAID